My Pastry School Blog

I'm woefully behind, but check out my blog about pastry school at Stiff Peaks! 

New Year, New Adventures

It's been way too long since I've posted anything here. I'm hoping to start this up again as I'm making many new changes in my life.

I decided about a month ago to go back to school. Not just any school - Pastry school. It's something I've been wanting to do for years, but never had the time or money to do so. I have the money now, and I'm hoping that I will also have the time. I'll have to make the time since I've been accepted at the Art Institutes here in Minneapolis and I start classes on Monday. I have my orientation tomorrow afternoon. I don't know why I'm a nervous wreck about it, but I am. Probably because I haven't been to an orientation since I was 17 years old.

I'm both excited and nervous. Some days I wonder if this was the right decision. I know in my heart that it is, so now I just have to get in the door and start my first class to solidify in my gut that this is the right choice.

I hope to write about my experience in pastry school, both good and bad, as it progresses. It's only for 44 weeks, so I know I can do it. It's just getting rid of that lump in my throat and the butterflies in my belly so I can breeze through it.

Modern Cafe, Northeast Minneapolis

I had a delicious dinner with our friends Molly and Walter last night at the Modern Cafe in NE. The restaurant had been on their list of places to try for a while. Since I made a resolution to try new places in the city, I was pretty excited to go.

The restaurant looks and feels like an old diner. We sat in a booth at the back which was adorned with an art deco mirror and a few graffiti hearts carved into the wooden bench. The server brought Molly a Mexican Coke and we decided to go with the Duck and Shiitake Rillet as an appetizer. It was delicious. I'm not a fan of mushrooms, but I hardly noticed them in the rillet.

The dinner menu is pretty limited, but we found something we all wanted to try. I had the Pot Roast, Walt had the Meatloaf, and Molly had the Mussel Stew. I'm also not a huge fan of mussels, but I tried Molly's dish and it was very tasty. My pot roast was so tender I didn't have to use my knife at all. Walt said his meatloaf was very delicious as well.

We ordered Pots de Creme for dessert, which was also wonderful. Walt and Molly had espresso, but I passed as I'm an old lady and it would have kept me up all night.

I hope to go back to Modern Cafe again soon. The service was great and the food was amazing. I also like the fact that they use local resources and ingredients in all their dishes. Go, now, if you haven't already been.

Top 10 Best Comedies of the 2000's

Yes, I'm back! I've made a New Year's Resolution to get back into writing in my blog. I have been away for so long that it's going to take me a year to play catch-up.
But in the mean time, here are my picks of the Top 10 Best Comedies during the past decade:

1. Shaun of the Dead

2. Kung Fu Hustle

3. Super Troopers

4. 40 Year Old Virgin

5. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

6. King of Kong: A Fist Full of Quarters

7. Napoleon Dynamite

8.  Superbad

9. C.R.A.Z.Y.

10. Shrek 2

Asian Beef with Snow Peas | Food | Disney Family.com

Asian Beef with Snow Peas | Food | Disney Family.com

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Going Back to Where I Came

I'm leaving in about 3 hours to travel to Upstate NY to be with my Mom. She was diagnosed with cancer 5 days ago. I am on a leave of absence at work since I don't know how long I'll be there. I started my leave on May 7th. Today is May 11th. I swear to you these past 4 days have been the longest days of my life.

I had to co-ordinate my flight based on a number of factors. First, what flight can we get on short notice that flies direct from Mpls to Alb? Not only does it have to fly direct, it must be on Northwest. Not only does it have to be a direct flight on NW, but it has to be paid for with my Mom in Law's frequent flyer miles. And on top of all that, this magical flight has to land in Albany between the hours of 3pm and 5pm. Why? Because my Uncle has a conference in Albany that finishes up between those times and he will be picking me up from he airport and driving me to the hospital. For those of you who don't know, I don't drive. I mean, I am physically able to drive and hold a license from the state of MN, but I haven't driven any sort of distance since 2003. The thought of renting a car and driving the 2.5 hours to my Mom's house was making me more nervous than the plane ride. I hate flying.

I don't have details at this time as to what kind of cancer my Mom has, how bad "bad" is, how big the tumor is, and what course of action her Oncologist is recommending she take to have it removed. I know radiation and chemo are in the works; I just don't know when it will start.

To be perfectly honest, I'm dreading this trip. I've never traveled by myself before. I've also never been away from Phillip in the 6 years we've been together. I think that will be the hardest part. I'll miss Lola and all my friends here, too. I know I won't be gone for more than 3 or 4 weeks (although this can change at any time), but it seriously feels like forever.

But I need to help my Mom and be with my family right now. My sister needs me and my help (she's planning a wedding for November!) and my grandparents need someone to help them get to and from the hospital (I can handle that driving as it's not very far from their house).  I just have to get through the next couple of hours and I'll be in NY. 

Then I have to take things one day at a time.

Long, Long Time...No Post

Work has kept me so busy that I haven't had time for myself. I'll be with my company for a year next month. Some days I feel like I've been working there forever, while other days I feel like I just started. These are both good and bad. I'm coming into my own and have been given many more responsibilities. Some days I'm completely overwhelmed, while other days I'm confident I can take on more. That's what I like about my job; I have no idea what I'm going to be getting into once I step in the office on any given day.

In other news, I got new glasses today. They are the same shape as my old ones, but solid black and not as thick. Oh, and sunglasses. Check 'em out. 

Thankfully Vision World was having a 50% off complete glasses, or I'd have paid $800 total for both pair. But I paid a little under $400. It really sucks being blind sometimes, for sure!

I'm going to try and post more on here, if time allows. Or, rather, I should make time to post. I bought myself an awesome MacBook Pro for Christmas, so spending time online and sitting in front of a laptop is a dream. I also can work from home now that I have a functioning laptop, which rocks in all sorts of ways. Not having to go into work on the weekends is awesome. That's all I gotta say about that.

I'm off to bed. Sad, but true.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
Originally uploaded by thehoneybunny

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve
Originally uploaded by thehoneybunny

Happy New Year, everyone!

Rock Out With Your Cock Out

When The Hubs and I lived in Boston we had a handful of local bands that we liked and saw quite often. One of my favorites was The Information. I think we saw them at least 10 times in three years. They have some catchy tunes and put on a great live show. They are pretty rad, so you should check them out.

So when The Hubs and I moved to Minneapolis, we wanted to find some local bands that we could enjoy and see on a sorta-regular basis. That has not happened. I think mostly because The Hubs is more of a new wave synth-rock guy and picky about his music, and I tend to like stuff he's not into (can anyone say Leslie and the Lys?) So we don't agree on much when it comes to seeing bands. Although after discussing this with him over breakfast, he reminded me he enjoyed our friend Wes's band The Drags (now called Noble Rot) a lot, so I have to give him credit for that.

Over the past month or so, I've been searching for local bands who have more of a guitar driven sound. Not that I don't like electronic music, but I was sort of getting sick of seeing bands who rely on their Mac instead of instruments to get through the set, you know?

I went to happy hour with a friend and old co-worker on Friday and he was talking about the band he's in and how he'll be playing somewhere on some date (TBD) in January and how he wants me to go. This started the conversation of local bands and how eventually there is No Degrees of Separation between musicians and people who hang out with musicians. One guy played with this band who had a drummer who played with this band and the chick who just brought me my beer was the merch girl for the two bands at one time. And on and on it goes.

Anyway, the point is that I started listening to some local (MN and WI) bands about a month ago and I'm hoping to see them live at some point. The Rockford Mules are really great, and they are playing at The Entry on Friday next week with Chooglin' and The Mighty Mofos (who don't seem to have a Myspace wtf?).

A guy I know? knew? turned me on to Drunk Drivers, who I find myself listening to on repeat these days. It took a while for me to get into them, but now I pretty much recommend them to everyone I talk to. My coworkers are getting tired of hearing Bourbon Legend play on repeat all day long.

Winter seems to keep everyone indoors here in MN, but this year we're trying to get out more and take in more shows. The hardest part for us is getting from our house to the bus when it's -35 degrees (but feels like -75). So, yeah. Please let me know of any other great local bands I should check out in the comments.